The saying that "overseas Chinese nursed the Chinese revolution" is particularly true of the Chinese community in Yokohama.

After he failed in his first call for a revolution, Dr. Sun Yat-sen went abroad and spent many years in exile, but since Honolulu was too faraway from China, the base of revolution was shifted to Japan. Dr. Sun visited Japan 15 times in all and stayed there for a total of over nine and a half years, living much of the time in the Chinatown section of Yokohama.

The Chinese of Yokohama first came into contact with Dr. Sun in 1894.The Hsing-chung Hui (Society for Regenerating China), which he founded, was returning to Hong Kong from Honolulu. On the way back, the ship stopped at Yokohama and Dr. Sun made a speech on board to overseas Chinese there on his thoughts about a revolution to overthrow the Manchus. Moved by what he had heard, a local Chinese merchant named Chen Ching then brought about the formation of the Yokohama branch of the Hsing-chung Hui.

Dr. Sun and a number of local Chinese businessmen founded the Yokohama Chinese Academy in 1897. It was called the Chinese/Western School at first, with the principle in mind of "Chinese learning as the essential substance and Western learning for utilitarian purposes." Some of the businessmen also went to China bearing a letter of introduction from Dr. Sun to engage Liang Ch'i-ch'ao as the principal. Liang being in charge of Shih-wu pao (the newspaper Current Affairs), his teacher K'ang Yu-wei recommended Hsu Ch'in in his place. After Hsu Ch'in and three instructors arrived at their posts, the school's name was changed to Ta-t'ung (Universal Harmony). Su Man-shu, later a noted literary figure, was a student in the first class.

Following the coup of 1898, K'ang and Liang fled to Japan and set up the Pao-huang Tang (Imperial Preservation Party) in Yokohama. The Revolutionary Party called for abolishing the imperial system and instituting democracy, but the Pao-huang Tang advocated a new government headed by the emperor. The views of the two parties were mutually incompatible, resulting in the "Sun Yat-sen Not Welcome Here" sign.

Even after the founding of the Republic, the Chinese Academy was still troubled by difficulties because of politics. The fall of the mainland to the communists and the withdrawal of the Nationalist government to Taiwan split the overseas Chinese community into two camps, pro-KMT and pro-CCP, and the two sides began fighting it out over the school.

"The previous principal had been severely beaten, and the first day I arrived six teachers were wounded in action, so to speak. The students took advantage of their status as juveniles and threatened to kill me. I was in the hospital thirteen times." Listening to the words of former principal Wang Ch'ing-jen, you can imagine how fierce the struggle must have been.

Eventually, thanks to the cooperation of the police since the Nationalists legally owned the school, and Wang's stalwart fortitude, characteristic of people from Shantung, the pro-CCP faction lost the fight and setup another Chinese academy in the city's Yamate district.

"Even though we had gotten the school back, we still had to take turns guarding it day and night. The facilities were often vandalized and all the glass was shattered at night," adds the current principal, Yang Wen-po, who used to stand guard at night himself. He terms the conflict back then a "military struggle," as opposed to the "civil struggle" going on now, when fisticuffs have gradually given way to propaganda.

Although there are two sets of Chinese schools, provincial fellowship clubs, and overseas Chinese associations in Yokohama now and the two sides still litigate over property rights and political disputes, there is no longer a scent of gunpowder in the air.

But every year, when October 1 and October 10 roll around, the two sides go all out to celebrate and see whose activities can attract the bigger crowds. For Chinatown, this method of fighting is like "the snipe and the clam going at it, while the fisherman picks up both," because the hotter the competition, the more tourists there are!

[Picture Caption]

Six tenths of the students at the Chinese Academy plan to work in the food and beverage business when they grow up. If he learns his figures well enough, this student may end up owning a big fancy restaurant himself some day.